Nightclub fire triggers court battle between entrepreneurs
A dynasty of property owners from Brisbane’s Chinatown has become embroiled in a legal battle after a fire destroyed two nightclubs.
Police & Courts
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A massive fire that destroyed a pair of well-known Brisbane nightclubs has triggered a bitter legal fight between a dynasty of Chinatown property and the prince of Gold Coast nightclubs.
Artesian Hospitality Pty Ltd, owned by Matthew Robert Keegan, 34, from Surfers Paradise, has sued a company owned by the Moc family – worth at least $100 million, mostly through their Chinatown property portfolio – alleging they reneged on a deal to lease Artesian their “unique” and massive 929sq m nightclub, which sits on a prime site in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.
The building sits in the Valley’s epicentre in the Brunswick Street Mall, opposite the railway station, and was home to the Famous and Our Place nightclubs until October last year when they were gutted by a fire started by a mobile phone charger.
The fire was so intense that the club’s structural steel beams were twisted, and its brick walls and roof damaged.
After the fire the nightclub tenant, Nathan Johnson, surrendered his lease, and the Moc family started the hunt for a new tenant, with Mr Keegan inspecting the burnt-out shell with controversial former Gold Coast nightclub baron Jamie Pickering on May 25.
The lawsuit has shone a light on the reclusive Moc family, who despite owning large swathes of Fortitude Valley real estate, as well as shopping centres on the Gold Coast and at Ipswich’s Redbank Plains, have kept a very low profile.
The family, headed by patriarch Va Duong “Jack” Moc, 77, who emigrated from Vietnam, started out in the restaurant business owning the Valley yum cha institution King of Kings, which first opened in 1988 – now closed and moved to Upper Mount Gravatt – and the Dragon Lake Chinese Restaurant, also in Upper Mount Gravatt.
The Moc family also own the Fortitude Valley building that houses the Met nightclub, the largest club in Brisbane, which used to be the Chinese Club of Queensland.
Jack’s Bentley-driving son Jac Moc, 31, from Sunnybank Hills, ran the negotiations to rent the nightclub building because his father Jack – whom he described as an “Old Skool (sic) business guy” – does not speak fluent English, Jac Moc told the Supreme Court in his affidavit.
Artesian, which last week opened the $10 million Las Vegas-style Cali Beach Club on the Gold Coast, alleges it had an unbreakable and legally-binding deal with the Moc family company to lease the club for $525,000 a year, and argued in court documents that they believe the Moc’s company only reneged on the deal because they had a better offer from another tenant, or crucial building upgrades proved more costly than anticipated and it had not obtained a bank loan to fund it.
Artesian, which also owns Gold Coast clubs Sin City, Bedroom and Havana R&B, alleges the Moc company is not entitled to refuse to execute a lease over the club.
Mr Keegan told the court in his affidavit that he wants the lease because the site is the only one of its kind in Brisbane with a massive roof height which allows for multiple internal storeys to be built.
The Moc company denies it ever executed a formal agreement to lease the club to Artesian and argues its decision to terminate the heads of agreement was valid.
Barrister John Meredith for the Moc company submitted to the court that Artesian’s case should be thrown out, with costs awarded in its favour.
Mr Moc argues he made it clear several times, including during the inspection on May 25 that the family company would lease the club in whatever condition it was in after the insurance-funded building work was completed.
Mr Moc argues he told Mr Keegan again on July 28, that the family. did not want to spend any money on the premises.
Mr Keegan kept pushing for the Moc company to stump up the cash for further work to the building’s services, court documents state.
On September 1, when Jac Moc told Mr Keegan in a phone call that he was calling off the agreement and that the family was not prepared to incur further costs improving the property beyond the insurance work, Mr Keegan alleges Mr Moc asked him: “What if I have found someone else who is willing to take the lease on these conditions?”
Mr Moc denies making such a comment.
Three days later Artesian’s lawyers told Moc’s lawyers in an “urgent” letter that Artesian was worried the Moc company may try to lease the club to another nightclub baron.
On September 6 Artesian filed its lawsuit against the Moc company on the same day that rival nightclub owner Joe Heanan from the Hallmark Group (which owns Irish pub Finn McCool’s among others) signed a lease for the club with the Moc company.
That deal has also fallen over due to the lawsuit, with the Moc company agreeing to court orders not to lease the site until the dispute is heard in court.
Buildings and land in Fortitude Valley are highly sought after because their value will skyrocket if owners can obtain council development approvals to build massive high rise apartment blocks.
The Moc company’s lawyers told Mr Keegan’s lawyers in court documents they would ask the court to force Artesian to pay them indemnity legal costs if they proceeded to file a claim in court.
Jac Moc did not respond to requests for an interview.
The case is due in Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday.
LOW-KEY CLAN THAT RUNS CLUB STRIP
Vietnamese migrants Va Duong Moc, known as Jack, and his late wife Chan Cu Moc came to Australia penniless in the 1970s and since then have amassed a fortune worth over $100 million.
After years of hard work, one of their first purchases was a restaurant site on Logan Rd in Upper Mount Gravatt for $670,000 in 1990.
There, they ran the Dragon Lake Chinese restaurant and later rebranded as the Rong Fu hot pot restaurant, now closed.
The family’s enviable property portfolio now includes a string of venues along Brunswick St and Wickham St in the Chinatown area of Fortitude Valley as well as the Ashmore Plaza shopping centre on the Gold Coast and one in Redbank Plains, Ipswich.
The couple also own 295-299 Brunswick St, the former site of the Famous nightclub, as well as the massive Met Nightclub and several retail shops at 256 Wickham St, the former Chinese Club of Queensland, which Mr Moc bought in 2003.
A new 24-hour gym has been touted as a possible tenant at the 256 Wickham St site, next to Fortitude Valley train station.
Tsuen Fung Holdings, a company wholly owned by Jack Moc, owns 173-179 Wickham St Fortitude Valley, which was home to the yum cha institution King of Kings since 1989.
The restaurant is now closed.
In 2018, Jack Moc’s son Jac, 31, obtained Brisbane City Council approval to turn the King of Kings site into a karaoke bar or nightclub called the Eat Play Bar.
The family also own the building next door, which they leased to the WokaWoka Asian Fusion restaurant, next to the gates to Chinatown mall.
Jac Moc has posted on Instagram that future tenants of this building may include Phoenix Darts Bar, burger bar Mad Burger, and Mad BBQ offering Chinese BBQ pork and roast duck.
Tsuen Fung Holdings paid $7.5 million for 173-179 Wickham St in 2005, and a month later dropped a further $16.8 million buying the Ashmore Plaza shopping centre on the Gold Coast.
The same company paid nearly $10 million for a large Redbank Plains shopping centre, 30km southwest of the Brisbane CBD, in 2006.
The centre includes a FoodWorks supermarket of which Jac Moc is a part-owner.
Despite its valuable land holdings, in April 2017 Tsuen Fung Holdings was ordered to pay $38,651 in a default judgment for unpaid rates to Ipswich City Council, court documents state.
Moc family company Moc Wealth Pty Ltd also owns millions of dollars worth of property in Burleigh Heads and Ipswich, and Moctran owns property on Station Rd Indooroopilly.
Despite his fortune, Jack Moc lives in a relatively modest seven-bedroom home in Sunnybank Hills, on Brisbane’s southside and his sons live just minutes away.
Jack’s one indulgence is a shiny black Bentley Continental Flying Spur he keeps in the three-car garage.
Jac describes his father in court documents as an “Old Skool (SIC) business guy” and now Jac and his older brother Dich Hin Moc, 50, known as James, play a major role in the family business.
Jac, a gym junkie and father who helps run the family’s restaurant and property empire, shows off his flashy lifestyle on his Instagram account, including his Rolex watch, breaks at the luxurious Palazzo Versace hotel on the Gold Coast and private jet trips to test-drive Bentleys in Melbourne.
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